Nicolas Sarkozy, found guilty in the Paul Bismuth affair, will refer the matter to the ECHR

POLITICS – Whatever he does, Nicolas Sarkozy will have an electronic bracelet on his ankle in the coming months. But the former president, found definitively guilty of corruption in the Paul Bismuth affair this Wednesday, December 18, does not intend to admit his guilt. Conversely, he intends to attempt one last legal action and thus have France condemned.

It was on social networks that the former head of state (2007-2012) reacted to the decision of the Court of Cassation putting an end to his presumption of innocence. If he claims not to have “by no means” the intention of ” complain “he deplores despite everything “twelve long years of legal harassment” and denies the facts with which he is accused.

As a reminder, in this case, Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of having set up a “corruption pact” with his lawyer Thierry Herzog and the high magistrate Gilbert Azibert. In return for a position in Monaco, the latter provided information to the Sarkozy camp to influence the Bettencourt affair then in progress.

“I am accused of having thought of helping an application which was never formulated, with an intervention which was never made, in exchange for a service which was never requested nor provided”nevertheless retorts Nicolas Sarkozy in response to the judgment of the Court of Cassation. Before once again attacking the legality of the wiretapping of his telephone exchanges with his lawyer Thierry Herzog, which made it possible to reveal the affair.

An appeal likely to condemn France, “ Alas »

Convinced that his “justifiable rights have been violated » et “not decided to accept the profound injustice done to (him)”, Nicolas Sarkozy therefore announces that he will refer the matter to the European Court of Human Rights, his ultimate solution after having exhausted the possibilities of appeal at national level. This appeal is non-suspensive and will not prevent him from having to wear the electronic bracelet, but it is above all a question for the former president of trying to be rehabilitated and of demonstrating the alleged bias of the judges, a key argument of his camp since the start of the affair.

“The appeal that I am making before the ECHR could unfortunately lead to France being condemned”he writes. But “this could have been avoided if I had benefited from a calm legal analysis. Am I to understand that my past political role and the opposition I raised created the corporate and political climate that resulted in this decision? »he asks.

Any individual who believes that their rights guaranteed by the Convention on Human Rights have been violated by an EU member state can contact the ECHR. The Court first examines the admissibility of the request, before attempting an amicable settlement or pronouncing a judgment if necessary. If his decision is contested, the applicant can still turn to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR for a final appeal.

Pending possible future developments, Nicolas Sarkozy must be summoned – in principle within a period of less than a month – before a sentence enforcement judge (JAP), who will determine the terms of wearing his bracelet, which will be installed later . This is the very first time that a former French head of state will have to serve such a sentence. “I want to reiterate my perfect innocence and remain convinced of my rights. My determination is total on this issue as on the others”nevertheless concludes the former President of the Republic. A man who is still far from having finished with the courts, he who, in 2025, will appear twice before the courts, in the Bygmalion affair and in that on the Libyan financing of his 2007 presidential campaign.

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